Beijing: Seven Chinese sailors are missing after a cargo ship sank in Russian waters near Japan, media reports said on Thursday. Three of the 10 Chinese sailors onboard were saved but seven are still missing after the ship sank off the waters of Vladivostok, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry didn't mention the cause of the incident, saying rescue efforts and an investigation into the incident are ongoing, the China Daily said. But the Global Times, a Beijing-based Chinese language newspaper - citing a Russian newspaper - said Wednesday the ship was fired on by the Russian navy before it sank.

New Star, the cargo ship, was sequestered at the Russian port of Nakhodka earlier this month for alleged smuggling.It left the port not far from the Sino-Russian border without permission from Russian authorities last Thursday and was chased by a cruiser, the newspaper said. Later, the warship shot at least 500 rounds onto the ship and forced it to sail back toward the port in force six winds.

However, the Chinese ship started to sink on the way. According to the report, in a period of almost 24 hours, Russian navy officers and soldiers onboard the cruiser watched the sinking boat and did not make any response to the cries for help from the crewmen.

In the end, 16 sailors onboard New Star got on two lifeboats. The Russian sailors managed to save one boat carrying eight people, while the other was engulfed in the waves. Three of the missing sailors are Chinese while the other five came from Indonesia, the report said.

The coastal coordination and assistance centre of Vladivostok announced Sunday that a Russian coast guard cruiser saved eight foreign sailors trapped by bad weather. It did not mention the alleged firing from the Russian navy.

However, a Russian media report said Wednesday the coast guard just found an empty boat in a three-day search. It also cited bad weather as the reason behind the accident. According the International Maritime Organisation, the owner of New Star is a shipping company of Zhejiang, while the operator is a company based in Guangzhou.

MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - The captain of a Chinese cargo ship, which sank off Russia's Pacific Coast on Sunday killing eight crewmembers, is to blame for the tragedy, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

The New Star, owned by a Hong Kong based company, sank in the Sea of Japan 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the port of Nakhodka in the Primorye Territory during a storm. The ship had earlier been chased by two Russian coast guard vessels, but refused to stop despite being fired on.

"We regret the tragic consequences of this incident. However we consider the captain of the New Star, who behaved extremely irresponsibly, is fully to blame for the incident," Andrei Nesterenko, a spokesman for the ministry, said.

Chinese media reported earlier that the Sierra Leone-flagged New Star sank as a result of damage sustained, when the ship was fired upon by Russian border guards after the vessel left Nakhodka and crossed the Russian border without prior permission from the authorities.

"We stress that the New Star violated Russia's state border and for several hours the captain rudely ignored signals from the coast guard vessels and failed to comply with the lawful requests of the coast guard authorities," Nesterenko said.

The Russian diplomat added that a full investigation, conducted by the relevant Russian bodies, is currently underway.

The border guards fired warning shots, but when the vessel still refused to stop more direct shots were fired. According to video footage shown by Internet media in Vladivostok, Russian border guards fired a total of 515 shots at the vessel's bow. When this had no effect, they requested permission to open fire on the stern.

The ship issued a distress signal when the vessel started to take on water during the storm on Sunday, and 16 crew members, all of them Indonesian or Chinese nationals, got into two lifeboats. Half of them were picked up by a Russian vessel, but an attempt to save the other eight sailors failed when they were washed out to sea.

A small boat was discovered on Tuesday in the area where the ship sunk, but there was no one on board. The search operation launched by Russia continued on Thursday.

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry official on Friday said that Russia's attitude on the sinking of a Chinese cargo ship in Russian waters is unacceptable.

Zhang Xiyun, director-general of the Department of European-Central Asian Affairs of the ministry, lodged representations Friday afternoon to Russian Minister Counselor to China Morgulov Igor in regards to the incident.

Zhang said that the attitude of the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed on Friday over the incident is "hard to understand and unacceptable" for China.

A Sierra Leone-flagged vessel named "New Star" sank off the waters near Russia's far-eastern port of Vladivostok on Sunday. Seven Chinese crew members were still missing.

Russia on Friday announced that it wrapped up the search for missing crew members of the cargo vessel. According to Itar-Tass news agency reports, a motorboat was found Wednesday at Pyotr Veliky Bay, but no one was on it.

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Li Hui Thursday summoned Russian ambassador Sergei Razov, urging Russian authorities to complete investigations into the incident as soon as possible and try its best to search for the missing crew members.

Li said China was shocked at and seriously concerned with the incident, expressing the country's strong dissatisfaction with Russian warship's firing at the civil cargo ship, Russia's insufficient rescue efforts to save drowning sailors and its failure to provide prompt investigation result to China although some details still need to be found out.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the incident, and requires Russia to make thorough investigations to find out the causes of the incident and give China a "responsible feedback" as soon as possible, Li said.

China also requires Russia to properly settle rescued Chinese sailors and spare no efforts to help search for the missing crew members, he added.

Razov Sergey expressed regrets over the serious casualty in the incident. He said that relevant departments of the Russian government are investigating into the incident, and will inform the Chinese side of the result in time. China Military Online English Edition

I feel the Russians were fed up of such stuff, I mean ships trying to outrun them etc. They wanted to make an example of this ship, but the loss of Life is regrettable . Finally, we dont know what kind of stuff the ship was carrying, it maybe more than what meets the eye!

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian news agencies are quoting a senior prosecutor as saying that his office has exposed an attempt by military officers to smuggle $18 million worth of stolen Russian weapons to China.

The agencies quoted Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky as saying Wednesday that some officers and businessmen shipped the weapons to the ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan for subsequent smuggling to neighboring China.

Fridinsky said the stolen weapons included 30 anti-submarine missiles and about 200 bombs.

China has been a top customer for Russian weapons since the 1990s. But Russian authorities have also nabbed some military officers and civilians who they accuse of smuggling weapons and sensitive technologies into China.

MOSCOW, February 25 (RIA Novosti) - A group of Russian Navy officials are suspected of attempting to smuggle 30 anti-submarine missiles and 200 airplane bombs worth a total of $18 million to Tajikistan for sale to China.

Russia's chief military prosecutor, Sergei Fridinsky, said a criminal case had been opened and an investigation was ongoing, adding that the smugglers included a number of businessmen.

A Navy spokesman confirmed the statement, adding that the consignment had been listed in a customs declaration as "de-commissioned, recycled ammunition."

Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said the smuggling operation was prevented by "the Navy, in conjunction with the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Security Service (FSB)."

According to some media reports, high-ranking Navy officials, including vice admirals and rear admirals, may have been involved in the scheme.

This is hardly shocking news...China is very very sneaky. Everyone from the Joint Chief's of staff to the common citizen in America knows that China has been stealing very sensitive and highly classified information right under people's noses. I don't for a second think that China would not capable to something like this.